As a child my heroes were designers and I thought designers could design across many disciplines, this was what I understood and aspired to. I'm fortunate to have been a designer, illustrator, and design teacher for many years. Passionate about the process I firmly believe if you can design in one area you can design in another. Understanding your material's potential is the key. As a tutor and author my job is to unwrap a student’s talent, support and encourage that unique view through skills building and advice to help them. I believe good design can solve many of the world’s problems and passing on that message is valuable.
In my profession and working in a world that is bombarded with high-resolution images it might seem ironic to choose this book. Discovering this title as a student I was struck by the straightforward exploration of the broader sensory ability we all share. Pallasmaa explores the full sensory perception of built space and how relying on the merely visual, particularly at the design stage, robs us of a deeper sensory understanding of the architecture we create and inhabit. This book taught me how to recognise and trust what all my senses tell me rather than assuming I can fully understand something just by looking at it.
First published in 1996, The Eyes of the Skin has become a classic of architectural theory. For every new intake of students studying Pallasmaa s classic text, The Eyes of the Skin provides a totally fresh understanding of architecture and a new set of insights. This third edition is intended to meet students desire for a further understanding of the context of Pallasmaa s thinking by providing a new essay by architectural author and educator Peter MacKeith. This text combines both a biographical portrait of Pallasmaa and an outline of his architectural thinking. The new edition will includes a new…
An exploration by this famous novelist contrasts the Japanese and the west’s approach to what it means to dwell and inhabit. Light, texture, and culture are explored from an aesthetic point of view and as a design choice through various explorations of sensory experience be that of food, traditional Japanese toilets, or the impact of electric light. An evocative and practical essay for anyone interested in the way we inhabit our environments. This book was a powerful reminder that cultural differences and the history behind them need to be understood and welcomed for the contrast and the alternative view they reveal.
An essay on aesthetics by the Japanese novelist, this book explores architecture, jade, food, and even toilets, combining an acute sense of the use of space in buildings. The book also includes descriptions of laquerware under candlelight and women in the darkness of the house of pleasure.
Secrets, misunderstandings, and a plethora of family conflicts abound in this historical novel set along the Brazos River in antebellum Washington County, East Texas.
It is a compelling story of two neighboring plantation families and a few of the enslaved people who serve them. These two plantations are a microcosm…
A captivating biography of one of my favourite designers. This book charts the life and experience of Eileen Gray and most importantly her fierce desire to understand the process of design and explore the integrity and flexibility of the material and techniques she used.
From exquisite lacquer work as surface decoration or tubular steel, leather, and canvas for furniture, to the smooth, modernist concrete for her most famous build, E1027, Gray mastered her materials. In doing so she recognised that when designing space, engineering and theory were not enough, and that instinct and the ‘choreography of the space’ are essential to how we recognise and understand our built environment. A wonderful exploration of a designer’s life, particularly relevant for a student of design to read.
This is a biography of Eileen Gray (1878-1976), an Anglo-Irish architect and designer who spent her early life in Paris and opened showrooms in 1922 with a strong Art Deco emphasis. Written by a longstanding friend who draws on his exclusive access to Gray's personal archives, the book aims to re-create her life and architectural projects. Two houses she designed in the south of France are now considered architectural landmarks of the 20th century. In addition to more than 300 photographs, designs and architectural plans, this new edition provides a revised catalogue raisonne of Gray's furniture, architecture and drawings.
Recommended to me by one of my students this is a witty exploration of the places in our homes, what we call them, kitchen, bedroom, dining room and how they often don’t live up to or exceed their names. A view of the rituals and complexities of the American home and what it houses as it explores memory, aspirations, and the real meaning of home. This book is a trigger to encourage the reader to look at their own spaces and the pattern of how they use those spaces through habit, muscular memory, and cultural norms, all playing a part in how we define our living spaces.
The house is home to many things. Far more than four walls and a roof, it contains our private and public lives, our families, our memories and aspirations, and it reflects our attitudes toward society, culture, the environment, and our neighbours. In a literary tour of the spaces of our homes, this book reflects on how we define such elusive qualities as privacy, security, and comfort. It uncovers the hidden meanings of seemingly simple domestic spaces, in chapters ranging from "The Front Door" to "The Garage" and many others. These writings about the home touch on our culture's fundamental issues:…
Homes by Byrd examines the story of this father-son team, demonstrating their impact on the design of homes in Southern California and describing the hallmarks of their enduring style.
Byrd homes are archetypes of California living. Many elements of a Byrd Home, such as exposed wood beams, turned posts, rock…
Ching has a great gift for illustrating with his visuals, and his amazing handwritten text, all manner of information about drawing and designing space. This is a comprehensive and instructional book introducing design drawing from basic principles to the communication of designed space as a structural diagram or atmospheric perspective. A wonderful exploration of sketching and drawing methods to illustrate theory, atmosphere, and the communication of three-dimensional space. For me, it transcended the textbook approach and provided a clear exploration of the communication of design method and its potential outcomes.
THE CLASSIC GUIDE TO DRAWING FOR DESIGNERS, REVISED AND UPDATED TO INCLUDE CURRENT DIGITAL-DRAWING TECHNIQUES
Hand drawing is an integral part of the design process and central to the architecture profession. An architect's precise interpretation and freedom of expression are captured through hand drawing, and it is perhaps the most fundamental skill that the designer must develop in order to communicate thoughts and ideas effectively. In his distinctive style, world-renowned author Francis D. K. Ching presents Design Drawing, Third Edition, the classic guide to hand drawing that clearly demonstrates how to use drawing as a practical tool for formulating and…
Written as a guide to the early stages of design drawing and conceived to introduce the design process, this book explores how to communicate a complete design scheme. The concept behind a design should inform every stage of that project from first thoughts to realisation, including how you communicate with the client.
Design drawing must be informative and accurate but also promote atmosphere, the feeling of a space, in an imaginative and evocative manner. Drawing space before it is built relies on observational sketching as much as the knowledge of scaled plans and sections. My approach is to encourage hand drawing as key to the design process, an essential skill that will inform and augment whatever communication medium chosen, be that pencil or pixel.
Nine Stories Told Completely in Dialogue is a unique collection of narratives, each unfolding entirely through conversations between its characters. The book opens with "God on a Budget," a tale of a man's surreal nighttime visitation that offers a blend of the mundane and the mystical. In "Doctor in the…
Dolça Llull Prat, a wealthy Barcelona woman, is only 15 when she falls in love with an impoverished poet-solder. Theirs is a forbidden relationship, one that overcomes many obstacles until the fledgling writer renders her as the lowly Dulcinea in his bestseller.
